A resident of Santiago de Cuba identified on Facebook as "Yunis La Mulatona" reported this Friday the theft of a gray Royal refrigerator five feet tall and a white rechargeable fan brand Salco, stolen during the early morning after unknown individuals broke the window of her daughter's room and entered the house.
The affected individual made a public appeal on social media: "If by any chance someone sees a five-foot gray Royal refrigerator and a medium-sized white rechargeable fan by Salco for sale, I need you to call me, I'm kindly asking for your help, it was stolen from my house early yesterday morning."
The case was amplified by the journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada. Shortly thereafter, the owner of the refrigerator informed him that "the police are taking charge," which halted the flow of information that Mayeta could publicly disclose.
But while the affected party was waiting for the National Revolutionary Police to resolve the case, followers of the page were already doing the work: an anonymous witness reported seeing four individuals moving the refrigerator around 5:00 AM through the Morro Road Park, entering onto Calle 9 in the Veguita de Galo neighborhood.
Mayeta summed it up with a phrase that captures the daily reality of the island: "The owner of the fridge trusts the police, but I trust the followers who keep me informed."
It is not an isolated phenomenon. In Santiago de Cuba, neighbors have opted on multiple occasions to detain suspected thieves before the police arrive, precisely because the wait can be endless.
Documented cases include families that waited more than 10 hours after reporting a robbery, or officers who promised to respond "when the sun comes up." Just two days before this robbery, residents of the city were warning about nighttime assaults in areas like Trocha and Gasómetro.
The irony is hard to ignore: the owner of the refrigerator trusts that the institution will resolve her case, but it is the anonymous citizens who, within hours, had already traced the thieves' route through the neighborhood.
Mayeta explained it bluntly: "Many times a publication achieves in a few hours what a shelved complaint can take days to move: eyes on the street, testimonies, and citizens willing to speak."
The national context exacerbates the situation. According to data from Cubalex on the rise of violence in Cuba, between 2023 and August 2026, 2,932 events of violence and insecurity were documented on the island, including 736 homicides.
The Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory recorded 2,833 verified crimes in 2025 alone, a 115% increase compared to the previous year, with thefts being the most common crime: 1,536 cases.
At the close of this report, the alleged perpetrators of the refrigerator theft remained unidentified and publicly uncaptured, and the Cuban police recently launched a 24-hour hotline to receive complaints about their actions—but only in Havana, not in Santiago de Cuba.
Related videos:
Filed under: